When you think of driving on ice, what most often comes to mind is driving on an ice-covered road, surrounded by snowy banks. For Lexus, they took this thought a step further and carved a set of working wheels and tires out of ice.
To help with this project, Lexus hired a team of ice sculpture specialists from London-based Hamilton Ice Sculptors to see if it was possible to have a 4,000-plus-pound vehicle ride on wheels and tires made from frozen water. It took the team only three months of designing and testing out different possibilities before the idea came to fruition. The vehicle had to be deep-frozen and stored for five days at -22 degrees Fahrenheit before being driven. Surprisingly, the vehicle started up on the first try.
But the team didn’t just sculpt the wheels out of ice; they also placed LED lights in the wheels to add another dimension of style to the NX. The project was the first of its kind, and the team used lasers to scan the actual wheels and tires and used computer design to replicate them.
“Creating Amazing is what Lexus is about. Projects such as our hoverboard, the origami-inspired cardboard car and now a dazzling set of fully functioning ice wheels, demonstrate how we use advanced technologies and the best craftsmanship traditions to achieve outstanding results. That’s not just for eye-catching one-off projects, but for the cars we deliver to our customers, too,” said Richard Balshaw, Lexus Director, in a release.
Watch the deep-frozen Lexus NX hit the streets of London on a set of tires and wheels made completely out of ice in the video below.
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